Although Paulus ordered Schmidt to assign tasks to the three engineer battalion commanders on the phone, Schmidt felt that it was not clear on the phone, so he ordered people to notify the three battalion commanders to come to the headquarters to see him immediately.
Half an hour later, three young officers appeared in Schmidt's office. After Schmidt's eyes swept over the three of them one by one, he said, "Gentlemen, tell me your names and the number of troops." He pointed his hand at a captain on the far left, "Captain, come first!"
The captain who was named took a step forward, straightened his body and said loudly: "His Chief of Staff, I am Captain Erwingast, the battalion commander of the 50th Armored Engineer Battalion!"
After Captain Gast reported his identity, the officer on his right immediately stepped forward, and also followed his appearance and said loudly: "His Chief of Staff, I am Major Ottokruger, the commander of the 162nd Engineer Battalion!"
The third officer said: "I am Major William Weiman, the battalion commander of the 294th Engineer Battalion!"
After hearing the three officers talk about their identities, Schmidt walked to Captain Gast, looked him up and down, and nodded with a smile, saying, "Captain Gast, you are the youngest battalion commander in so many engineer battalions in the army. I ask you now, do you want to prove your ability to everyone on the battlefield?"
"Will!" Gast replied loudly, "I am willing to shed the last drop of blood for Germany."
"Captain, what you have to do is to let your enemy shed the last drop of blood, do you understand?" After hearing Gast's loud reply, Schmidt nodded with satisfaction and turned toward Kruger: "Mr. Major, as far as I know, your battalion has been helping our Italian allies build fortifications over the past few months. I heard that in addition to completing the work of cutting down trees, digging trenches and building anti-tank barriers, you also arranged uninterrupted training and exercises for the soldiers. I want to ask, why do you do this?"
Hearing Schmidt's question, Kruger showed a look of surprise on his face, and he then replied: "Chief of Staff, although we are engineers, since the attack on France, we have completed our duties, just like infantry, and we are also engaged in continuous battles with our enemies. Although we have been building fortifications for the Italians over the past few months, I think we may be sent to the fortifications at any time, so we ordered soldiers to train every day and carry out some exercises according to the training situation."
"You thought very carefully, Major Kruger." Schmidt nodded with satisfaction in response to Kruger's reply, and continued: "I know that your battalion had cooperated with the officers and soldiers of the 62nd Infantry Division half a month ago to carry out a combat mission, and his performance was quite good."
"His Excellency Chief of Staff," Krueger replied calmly at the praise of Schmidt, "All we have eliminated is a guerrilla team with extremely poor combat power and equipment. I hope to have the opportunity to compete with the regular Russians."
"Major, your wish will come true soon." Schmidt said to him with a smile: "I called you here today to assign combat missions to you."
Schmidt finally came to Major Weiman, looked at the other party as usual, and said, "Major Weiman, your battalion has been stationed by the Don River for the past few months, helping our allies build fire points, lay minefields, set up barbed wire and cut down trees to clear the shooting world. How about it, you are tired of such a job, are you?"
"Yes, Chief of Staff." Weiman and Schmidt finished speaking, they couldn't wait to say: "All the officers and soldiers of our battalions are tired of their current life and hope to fight a battle face to face with the Russians."
"Don't worry, Major Weiman, your wish will come true soon." Schmidt smiled and said, "I called you here for this."
After chatting with the three engineers and battalion commanders, Schmidt walked to the wall, picked up the explanation stick, pointed to the map hanging on the wall, and said to the three officers: "Gentlemen, I called you here today to arrange an important combat mission for you. You may have heard of the Barrier Factory, here, now, most areas of the factory have been occupied by our army. Now there is only a small piece of land in the east, which is still controlled by the Russians. The task of your three battalions is to assist the 305th Infantry Division in the factory to completely eliminate this group of Russians." Speaking of this, he held the explanation stick in both hands and asked at the three officers, "Do you have any questions?"
"Chief of Staff, I want to ask." Captain Gast asked first as soon as Schmidt finished his words: "How many troops and weapons do the Russians who are now standing in this narrow area have?"
"As of yesterday morning, the 138th Russian Infantry Division, which was stuck in this area, had about a thousand people left, and there were no heavy weapons except a few machine guns. But..." The three battalion commanders at first heard that there were only a thousand soldiers of the defenders, and they were still very calm, but when they heard Schmidt say "but", they couldn't help but tremble. They realized that something unexpected must have happened. Sure enough, they heard Schmidt say indignantly: "Just when we were about to take another fierce attack and completely take down the barricade factory, the Russians sent reinforcements to the factory..."
"His Excellency Chief of Staff, the Russians are only such a small piece of land left in the factory. Even if reinforcements are sent, they cannot save their fate of destruction." Major Weiman said carelessly: "Our camp is confident that before noon, we will completely eliminate the Russians entrenched in this narrow area."
"Major Weiman, Brandt, the commander of the 577th Regiment, looked so underestimating the enemy yesterday." Schmidt said with a stern face: "One of his battalions rushed to the area occupied by the Russians under the cover of assault guns. Unexpectedly, before he got close, he was hit by a sudden artillery fire, and the troops were almost destroyed."
"But, Your Excellency Chief of Staff, you just said that the Russians who are sticking to this area do not have any heavy weapons except a few machine guns." Weiman asked in confusion when he heard this: "Where did their artillery emerge?"
"Major, haven't you heard what I just said?" Seeing that Weiman kept interrupting himself, Schmidt said with some displeasure: "I'm talking about the Russians as of yesterday morning, and they later received reinforcements. The 41st Guard Division, commanded by Sokov, came. I don't know where they got the artillery from, but it caught us off guard anyway."
Although the three engineer battalion commanders have not participated in the battle in the city in the past few months, they are still well-known for the name Sokov. When they learned that Sokov's troops were also sticking to the factory, they couldn't help but take a breath.
Schmidt saw their timidity, smiled bitterly, after allocating their respective combat areas to the three battalion commanders, waved at them, and said, "Okay, the mission has been arranged. If you have no problems, go back to your respective troops. The troops must enter the barricade factory before 10 am."
"Chief of Staff, I have a question." Major Kruger, who had never spoken, knew that if he didn't ask, he would probably have no chance to ask again. He asked quickly: "Who will command us? Also, can we get support from artillery fire or tanks during the attack?"
Chapter completed!